The Clippers’ plan for James Harden with Kawhi Leonard healthy, Bradley Beal addition

Harden played 79 games for the Clippers last season, averaging 22.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, 8.7 assists, and 1.5 steals per game as the primary ball-handler alongside Norman Powell. Across his 35.3 minutes per game and 79 games played, James Harden boasted a usage rate of 28.6 percent, which ranked 10th among players who played at least 60 games last season. But Harden and LeBron James were the only players in the top 10 older than 35 years of age.

“He had to make every play for us last year, him and Norm, offensively,” Lue added. “It put a lot of pressure on him and the last few weeks of the season, he got worn down. That’s our fault, but we had to do what we had to do to try to make the playoffs. We aren’t going to sit him down, but we don’t have to have his usage rate as high as it was last year.”

Harden and Powell carried the offensive workload until Kawhi Leonard returned on January 4, 2025. He played 37 games in the regular season, but Powell ended up missing 12 games after the All-Star break and never appeared to fully regain his form in the lineup as the postseason began. There was essentially no time off for Harden, which is something the Clippers aren’t trying to repeat.

So what does James Harden and his usage look like when he’s not facilitating every pick-and-roll?

“We’re going to use him, but I’m saying we don’t have to run 60 pick-and-rolls to try to generate a shot,” Tyronn Lue clarified when asked about Harden’s role. “Now with Bradley [Beal] out there, with Kawhi back healthy, and [Ivica Zubac] being able to post the basketball, we can take a lot of pressure off of James having to over create every night.

“He’s going to play his game, I’m just saying he doesn’t have to do it every time down the floor. Last year, I thought him and Norm had to do it every time down the floor because that’s just what we had, but adding Brad, adding Kawhi back in the mix, and then Zu, he doesn’t have to put that kind of pressure on himself every time down the floor.”

Harden’s 41 percent shooting from the field was the second worst shooting mark of his career over an entire season and his 35.3 percent shooting from three was his fourth worst. The offensive workload caught up to the Clippers star, but he still refused to sit games out en route to what ended up being a surprising, 50-win season.

The Clippers’ offseason additions of Bradley Beal and Chris Paul, in addition to Leonard’s return and Zubac’s continued development, were made with the hopes of reducing Harden’s workload. If everyone can stay healthy — and we’ve come to find out that is a major if — the Clippers should be able to act on this and keep James Harden fresh for a postseason run in April.